This application relates to a radiolucent cover for a medical imaging device such as, for example, a cover for a panel or paddle used in mammography.
Medical imaging has become an increasing powerful diagnostic and screening tool. As one example, breast cancer screening using mammography is routinely performed in order to provide early detection of breast cancer particularly in high-risk and middle-aged populations. If characteristic masses or microcalcifications are identified in the breast tissue during a mammogram, then the matter can be further investigated and, if necessary, treatment may be performed.
Although early detection and treatment of breast cancer greatly improves outcomes, receiving a mammogram is often uncomfortable.
In order to obtain the best resolution for detection of the smallest, earliest cancers, the breast being imaged must be flattened using pressure between two plates or paddles. Discomfort from the pressure can be compounded by the coldness of the paddles. Further, stickiness and pinching can develop when the skin is adjacent to the impermeable surface of the paddle.
Moreover, in order to improve cancer detection, the technician also tries to get as much tissue as possible into the imaging field. This requires uncomfortably driving the chest of the patient into the leading edge of the compressive paddles in an effort to maximize the volume of tissue between the paddles for imaging. However, contact between the patient's chest and the hard leading edge of the paddles results in linear pressure to the patient's rib cage and can be a significant source of pain.